In episode 42 of the Chief Wellbeing Officer podcast I read the introduction to my new book, The Daily Reset, and talk through other aspects of the back story, from my hopes and motivation to the creative process and marketing.
You can sign up to the mailing list for The Daily Reset for news and advance content, as well as pre-order the Kindle version at: www.dailyreset.me. Paperback, hardback and audiobook versions will be available, together with Kindle, on the 6th December.
As we emerge from the confines of one of the greatest disruptions in human history, talk of wellbeing is all around us and advancing an age of wellbeing. It is an opportunity, presented by the pandemic, to reflect on where wellbeing comes from and, most importantly, what it means.
Preaching, performance and critical skills: how wellbeing in the workplace has evolved
There is a difference between wellness and wellbeing, although they are commonly used interchangeably. Wellness connotes some element of escape from the day-to-day reality and some notion of ‘fixing.’ Wellbeing, on the other hand, is a more integrated concept within the daily lived experience of human beings, which allows them to be well.
Being well is a simple term which contains much complexity. The human flourishing and positive psychology fields of study consider being well in all aspects of life, with different instruments developed to measure these, at least on a personal subjective level. Physical, mental, social, and financial are some of the main elements, and wellbeing is required in all.
How we view this concept of wellbeing is critical if we are to change the prevailing culture in the workplace that wellbeing is something you do, or look after, on your own time and away from the office. Working culture has often led to imbalance in employees’ lives, and to address this the unsatisfied human needs of workers must be identified. Thus, organizations must be rebuilt to embody wellbeing practices and ideology, rather than being the very thing that workers feel the need to escape from in search of ‘wellness solutions’. Broad acceptance of wellbeing is likewise important in order to scale its impact from being a curious niche towards true mainstreaming.
Yet acceptance of wellbeing as a legitimate business strategy has been stymied by different factors. Firstly, health and wellbeing often suffer from a highly ‘preaching’ tone, admonishing people on their poor choices with the ‘perfect’ teacher shaming students simply by their presence. Of course, credibility and authenticity in such teachers is important. For example, it would not do to have a wellness expert exhort the importance of sleep to a group of executives if she herself appeared exhausted from flying around the world on a weekly basis. But at the same time, it would be impossible to expect someone with a busy schedule to never look and feel tired. We are human after all and thus wellbeing as a business concept must be built on showcasing vulnerability and failure as opposed to our preconceived notions of wellbeing as simply being a vehicle for personal and professional success. It is a journey, not something to be gotten “right” every time.
Wellbeing has been viewed traditionally as a compromise on performance, about doing less work. This led to my focus on sustainable performance as a business case for wellbeing. Work has no finish line and by investing in ones’ own health and wellbeing we can maintain our performance levels in the longer term. Even in the short term, studies show that by investing in areas such as sleep and nutrition, critical thinking, decision making and empathetic leadership are all improved. So rather than doing less work, the performance lens of wellbeing, inspired by the seminal work of the Corporate Athlete, allows us to think about working smarter.
However, in many organizations the pendulum has swung too far the other way. The result has been a whole industry of ‘peak performance’ vendors who use the tools of wellbeing to squeeze even more out of the workforce. Wellbeing may be more present, but if the ultimate intent is simply performance, company culture remains a barrier to a true positive, empathetic, and human organization. There can be residual benefits, but the end result is often a highly engaged workforce that is close to burnout. That situation cannot last, the sustainability of performance must be taken into account.
Wellbeing is a necessary skill – this has become obvious to many during the pandemic in which our working and our non-work lives became blurred. To take a technology analogy, we were forced to find a new operating system in order to manage this new way of working and living. The pandemic has shown that wellbeing skills include the ability to identify our deeper emotional needs, to design new routines and rituals, to create a new system.
It also allows us to be more effective professionals, not quite ‘performance’ per se, but certainly a more mature working human who can add value not only to the enterprise but to our communities (hugely important if we want to re-build a better society post-pandemic). By way of example, wellbeing programs can help leaders by acting as a lens to improve prioritization, relationship building, and developing empathy, among others. The blurred lines of the future world will require us to continually hone such skills.
Going back to the origins: the greatest question in human history?
The field of human flourishing provides a rich context for looking at wellbeing today. With solid academic roots in positive psychology, the definition of human flourishing according to The Harvard Human Flourishing program is “A state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good.”
Though this concept may seem simple to some, it helps unravel the complexity of wellbeing and shows that it does not exist in isolation. Wellbeing is a journey that starts with the self but involves others. Our families, co-workers, neighbors, and every being (indeed every natural element) with whom we share the planet, are all, at some point, part of this journey. Many wellbeing models and definitions, including that of the World Health Organization, make this explicit by highlighting the importance of social wellbeing. And studies show the importance of considering such elements for our own wellbeing. For example, volunteering has been shown to markedly improve mental health. It also leads us to consider that our own health and wellbeing is intrinsically linked to the health and wellbeing of the planet.
This line of inquiry moves wellbeing beyond the workplace. Though the study of wellbeing as a science originates from an examination of life as a whole, the workplace context has helped to accelerate development in the past decade, using the tools of business to gain deeper insights. Given that work is often the cause of reduced health and wellbeing, this has been a critical step. Yet we cannot remain fixated exclusively on the workplace. All life is not work, though work is a significant part of life and cannot be separated from it. The saying if you’re not well at work, you’re not well at home, and if you’re not well at home, you’re not well at work has shown itself to be true time and time again.
Opportunity in disruption: building a wellbeing-based future
There is a need for us all to be involved in shaping the age of wellbeing, through our daily actions and conversations. The pandemic has forced us – perhaps only temporarily – off the hamster wheel of our previous lives. We now have the opportunity to create new ways of behaving.
The corporate world and, particularly, entrepreneurs have a significant role to play in whether a new way of working and living is possible – a world that picks up that question which has been examined throughout human history, beginning with Aristotle: What is a good life? Innovation theory shows that times of great disruption also present huge opportunities, for example the economic crisis of 2007-08 gave rise to modern giants including Uber and Airbnb. What future omnipresent organizations are ‘starting up’ right now? A good number of them will likely address our wellbeing. For example, HealthTech has gained momentum since the pandemic started, with mental health start-ups, such as Ginger, attracting significant interest.
Another academic model that has been cited frequently during the pandemic from Zunin & Myers (below) also shows the work ahead. The model shows an emotional high coming after the impact, which may be surprising, but reflects the positive side of human nature, of working together when confronted with crisis. This, and the subsequent lows (think widespread ‘pandemic fatigue’ starting late 2020) has also been evident in our own shared trauma of the coronavirus. We have experienced a rollercoaster of emotions through the pandemic, and will no doubt continue to do so. Yet by building on the notions of community, what is the new beginning that we can build together?
The current period of reconstruction will be key for preparing for future setbacks. Organizations must focus on improving the day-to-day lives and practices of their workers, focusing on long-term, sustainable improvements rather than PR-driven directives and initiatives. In this new age, notions of wellbeing are integrated in our daily working lives and we are getting ever closer to true human flourishing – of being well in all aspects of our lives.
Episode 41 on the Chief Wellbeing Officer podcast and final one before the Summer break.
Rounding off our first theme this year of "Thriving Business" we talk to the VP of Global Talent at ServiceNow EMEA, Sally Sourbron. We view a rapidly growing business that nonetheless holds health and wellbeing close to ensure sustainable growth. An authentic approach to wellbeing is enabled by leveraging the core competence of the business - experience - as a launchpad to the 'higher gifts' of wellbeing including purpose and belonging.
I went downstairs, feeling just a little less guilty than the day before. Opening and then locking the gate behind me I snatched another glance around to look for the police. No-one. Good. I then ran for 20 minutes. Each loop lasted no more than 1 minute so about 20 loops was the norm, around 5.5km. The boredom and dizziness had decreased in the past few days but I still felt like a hamster on a wheel.
This was my daily exercise regime at the start of lockdown last year at home in Barcelona. For 6 long weeks no-one was allowed to leave the house save for essential food shopping once a week or medical provisions. No outdoor exercise was permitted. As a lifelong athlete with exercise playing a huge role in my overall health and wellbeing, I faced a dilemma. And so I used the community space that many apartment buildings in Spain have as my private prison yard. I got creative.
The result, incredibly, was that I became fitter than at any point in the past 7 years. There had been no limit to where I exercised, or for how long, in that time. I have international experience and have trained with Olympic track athletes and Tour de France cyclists. That hamster wheel, representing huge constraints, forced me to get creative and resulted in bigger impact.
Steve Jobs talked of the power of constraints and the value of a reduced solution space. He said, “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D.” So how may you look at the present constrained world to flex your own creative muscle?
As talk of health and wellbeing is gaining pace, in both our working and non-working lives, its impact on creativity is fascinating. The classic hierarchy of human needs by Abraham Maslow considers how basic human needs must first be satisfied before we can expect more advanced functions, including creativity, to flow. Simply put, if pandemic professionals are worried about job security or the safety of themselves or family members, it’s a huge ask to expect them to be creative at work.
It’s no wonder that psychological safety, already a hot business topic before the pandemic, has continued to accelerate. Leading organizations are doing all they can to increase a sense of belonging – allowing people to be themselves – and bring their whole, diverse selves, failings and all, to work. Everyone wins, creativity increases, and health and wellbeing has a huge part to play.
I’ve been banging the drum about the strong business case for health and wellbeing for almost 20 years, and creativity is a large part of that argument. Numerous studies show that exercise boosts a type of thinking called executive function – higher order thinking including creativity – which is also negatively impacted by a lack of sleep. As we continue to embrace the importance of exercise, sleep, and many other wellbeing dimensions, not just when the workday finishes, but integrated within the daily experience of work, creativity is sure to increase.
And that daily experience, both of working and non-working life, has changed beyond measure. Digital has been around for a long time but has been catapulted into the future during the pandemic as we at last begin to live a truly hybrid reality. Design, creativity and innovation will all be required to maximise the potential of the opportunities that digital affords us to improve health and wellbeing for all.
As we’re all forced off our own hamster wheel of our before-COVID lives, let’s put health and wellbeing at the centre of your new hybrid reality, and let creativity flourish.
Closing out the "Starting Up" theme in episode 40 of the Chief Wellbeing Officer podcast we talk to Vlad Gheorghiu, co-Founder and co-CEO of mental health start-up Kyan Health. Departing from his own upbringing of discussing the importance of mental health around the dinner table with Psychiatrist parents, we move to the vision for Kyan Health and how the way we work might change to better embrace recovery and energy which drives health and performance.
In a continuation of the "Starting Up" theme on the Chief Wellbeing Officer podcast we talk to Oracle's Head of EMEA Strategy for Oracle Cloud HCM and 'Oracle for Startups' Ambassador Yazad Dalal. We cover the entrepreneurial response to the pandemic, internal and external cases of good practice, how entrepreneurs are looking to build a better world, and of course an answer to that question.
Kicking-off the Q2 theme of "Starting Up" on the Chief Wellbeing Officer podcast we talk to Malte Krohn, a design and innovation expert and author of the forthcoming book, The Mindful Startup. After a brief introduction to the three episodes which comprise this theme, the conversation with Malte covers topics including why entrepreneurs need to be more mindful, maintaining the balance between drive and taking care of yourself, the importance of social change-makers and the value of a daily handstand practice.
On the 1st May 2019 I did 20 push-ups and WhatsApp’d my brother who did the same. The next day he did 22 and messaged me. And so we went on, adding 2 each day, till the end of the month (with 80). 1st June arrived and a well-deserved rest back to 20. And so ‘ping-pong-push-ups’ were born.
Last night I did 78 to finish the second full year, and another 18,120 push-ups (+36,000 now in total). It's still hard most days but the streak makes it easy. The streak is the only thing now that keeps me going, but it's the only thing I need. Therein lies the paradox of behaviour change and impact of good ritual design.
Anyone who has been in my habits sessions over the years will recognise 2 of my 7 Hacks: Streak and Shared. Without these I would have been lucky to do a couple hundred each year. Add in elements of progress, periodisation and motivation (we begin to lose muscle mass in our early 30s and retention is a good marker of long-term health) and the result is an iron-clad habit, with echoes of the cumulative effect of marginal gains.
I'm a long way off Ron Hill's running streak, and I'm not sure that streaks are wholly positive when obsession is in the mix as with some of Hill's exploits, but for now, it works.
Time for 20 and day 732..
In a continuation of the "Thriving Business" theme on the Chief Wellbeing Officer podcast we talk to Global Head of Learning & Development at L'Oréal BeautyTech Ronny Kelders. Starting with his own journey in L&D that has traversed Nike, Heineken and Uber we look forward with optimism to the new 'roaring 20s' - fuelled by science and technology, trust, and of course, wellbeing.
We’re back (at last!) with the Chief Wellbeing Officer podcast and a Q1 2021 theme of "Thriving Business." First up is Claus Flensborg, Global L&D Director at Arla Foods. Arla may have had a sectoral advantage during the pandemic but have navigated problems around the supply chain to post a record year and build a stronger workforce, taking advantage of the new reality to move towards a new strategy that combines employee wellbeing and Corporate Social Responsibility.
On 27th January I gave a live talk for Speakers Associates, launching their new live series. Here are my notes on the 3 things I think you should know.
#1: Lower your mask
For almost a year now I’ve been wearing a mask every time I go out. On the streets of Barcelona everyone has one. And it makes it harder to communicate with people, to read their emotions. One of the basic, most valued gestures of human connection, the smile, has sadly disappeared from view.
This hiding of emotions got me thinking of how we often do the same in a metaphorical sense, ‘putting a brave face on things’ in the midst of this global collective trauma. Anxiety, depression and stress have sky-rocketed during the pandemic, accelerating an already worrying trend of the past few years in the digital age. And most of us tend to keep it inside, without sharing our problems with others.
I’m making a call here therefore to be vulnerable.
Vulnerability is not a show of weakness. It is a show of strength. At the onset of the crisis, the Marriott Hotels CEO Arne Sorensen published a video message on Twitter talking of the huge crisis facing the company which was, in his words “worse than the 2007 economic crisis and the September 11 World Trade Center attacks combined.” He showed real emotion in his address, coming close to tears on several occasions. Even his appearance, bald while undergoing cancer treatment, was an exercise in vulnerability. The message was hailed on all sides as a show of the type of leadership necessary to navigate the crisis.
So share your own concerns and fears. Open up. With your family of course. Yet consider also your colleagues and superiors at work. When we increase this transparency we help to build a culture of psychological safety, and research has shown that psychological safety helps to build the strong team bonds that results in high performance.
When we start to share more of our own emotions at work rather than always sticking with our rational selves, we draw others towards us, building loyalty and trust which gets us through the tough times.
So how might this look in practice? Perhaps you set up a virtual coffee with your boss or peer to share some issue that has been bothering you. If you’re nervous of doing this first, think about how you might pay attention to, and help others who might be vulnerable. How could you ‘check in without checking up’ perhaps with a more junior member of your own team? A simple “Is there anything I can help you with?” will help immensely with any issues that might detract from work performance and atmosphere that is made more difficult when people don’t see each other face to face. Keeping the social fabric strong when everyone is working at distance is paramount. Give, in order to receive. Lower your mask to feel safe. Be vulnerable. Enrich the social fabric of your workplace that is at risk when everyone is working at home.
#2: Re-design your R&Rs (Rituals & Routines)
I have a coffee grinder. I get up early and grind coffee. I’m tired and it’s hard work. I could pop in a coffee capsule and make my life easier, but I love that coffee grinder. There is a special moment when I begin to smell the freshly ground coffee and then hear it slipping out the stainless steel grinder as I empty it into the coffee filter. It’s a special morning ritual.
Rituals are more than habits or behaviours. They are imbued with meaning and purpose. They satisfy deep-lying needs. We may talk of rituals within the context of religion or history, but may not readily associate them with the workplace. Yet our pre-pandemic world of work was full of ritual. That early morning commute, or the coffee-machine catch-up. The Friday afternoon celebration with the team and an office glass of wine. All served a purpose. Any they’re all gone. Perhaps we think we miss some and not others. The daily commute might have been stressful to a degree but it was an important transition ritual that ensure we made the switch between home and work, giving us the best chance of being present in both places.
We’ve easily replaced many of the elements of our pre-pandemic working lives on a functional level, but what are you missing from before? Only now might you realise that flying gave you a special 30 second meditation before speeding down the runway, or that the overnight stay gave you a chance to invest in your own self, momentarily away from family and professional duties.
What I’m saying here is that you need to be pro-active in designing for your emotional needs.
Rituals and Routines save us from a blurred work-life existence which truly means we end up living at work, highlighting the negative side of our current shared experience, rather than working from home, which embraces the flexibility and distraction-free productivity.
For many, entrenched working patterns have been broken. Days, weeks, months, and years of our working lives often pass with ever tightening patterns of behaviour and unchanging habits. So let’s use this time as an opportunity to re-design our working lives for the better.
Start by asking yourself what you’re missing from your previous working life. Then start to actively design rituals in different spaces, considering both time and place. Perhaps you consider a new weekend ritual, or a way to mark starting or finishing work. And don’t forget the non-work elements since you’re at home, mealtimes or connecting deeply with family.
Re-design your R&Rs. Cater for your emotional needs. Create the boundaries necessary so that work and life don’t create a messy middle.
#3: Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping
I’m reading Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life.” The above statement is his second rule and I think it’s a great way to focus on the topic of self-care.
As Peterson talks about in the book we often take care of others, even our pets if we have any, much better than ourselves. Ask yourself each day on whether the treatment you are readily dishing out to yourself – both your actions and thoughts – would make you recoil in horror if you were to do the same to a cherished family member or friend.
I’ve long held the view the way we’re working isn’t quite working. I’ve focused the past 20 years of my career on looking at a more positive notion of work where health, wellbeing and the joys of life aren’t separate, or indeed compromised by how we make a living.
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside-down. Yet it also offers us an opportunity to reset the way we work. Many of the vulnerabilities that are being openly talked about in recent months, including mental health, and balancing work and family commitments, have been eroding work happiness and productivity for years. These issues have been magnified, causing much pain to millions of workers globally, yet show the undoubted business and life benefits of addressing wellbeing within the context of a working life.
Because health is such a multifaceted concept, it can often be a challenge to tick every single box when our lives are so busy and demanding. The key thing is to check in with yourself. And if you’re not okay for whatever reason,
acknowledge it and try to take action to address it. But don’t get too worked up over it, you’re not a problem to be solved – it’s ok not to be ok.
And at the risk of inducing a different type of fatigue on certain readers who have heard this a thousand times (it’s worth the risk because it’s important!) ‘put your own oxygen mask on first’. If you have a family to look after, or a team that needs to perform – they won’t get the best out of you if you run yourself into the ground.
I’ve covered countless areas of self-care in Sustaining Executive Performance and Chief Wellbeing Officer. It can be overwhelming, so many things to do. But just start by having a discussion with yourself, perhaps start a nightly journal and focus on the things that are going well. Studies have shown that gratefulness makes a huge difference to mental health. Do one thing a day that makes you smile. And then another. Joy and happiness are in the moments of life. Savour those moments. Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.
I spent some dark days in March thinking my business may not survive the pandemic. All 2020 bookings for The LAB seemed to disappear overnight.
At the end of a rollercoaster year I'm truly humbled to learn this has been our most successful year since we started trading in 2007. Heartfelt thanks to all our clients, not just for their faith in our work, but for supporting health, wellbeing and positive performance in the midst of a crisis.
Pictured below is an illustration we used in the final chapter of Chief Wellbeing Officer. It's a view of Barcelona from the city mountain path, Carretera de les Aigües, where I do most of my running and thinking. Quoting the final paragraph:
"Putting aside the magnificent views and perspective that [it] gives, the biggest benefit is the range of paths presented to us. We may be travelling along the main path but by raising our gaze we are presented with myriad options; up, down, narrow and wide. They offer us new ways of arriving at the same destination or present us with a new end point. Often, they lead us to a dead-end and we need to backtrack. The joy is in the discovery. Getting lost and finding ourselves again."
Very best wishes to all for a restful holiday and brighter 2021. Happy Christmas.
